Danger in the Fridge Pacific - part trois

Now in dry clothes and appetite satisfied a feeling of contentment overwhelmed me.  As I was contemplating a nap before Aunty Donnie graced our presence when I was shocked back to reality by Sherill’s authoritative but pleasant voice… “You vill do water quality sampling and you vill enjoy it!” or something to that effect.  I was still in a half dream state. Frances and I, worked on obtaining Nitrite and Nitrate data. Becky and Erin as did Daniel and Martin to obtain other data for parameters such as pH, DO, alkalinity, etc.  Frances and I won!  

The day concluded with Aunty Donnie enlightening us with her fascinating  mo`olelo (stories) of Haumea and culminated the day by exposing us to  a new oli (chant), Nā Wahine `o Haumea `o He`e`ia.  Sherill astutely questioned the letter “T” in the Hawaiian language found in the written copy of the chant.  My two cents worth is when the missionaries developed the written Hawaiian language they had a difficult time distinguishing between certain sounds.  The T’s and K’s were a source of confusion so it was the missionaries that used only K’s in the written language even though K’s and T’s are verbalized.  Similar to W’s and V’s. i.e., Hawai`i.  No V’s in the written language.   

Ta ta for now…or as the missionaries would write Ka ka for now.

A little late, no?

Aloha mai kākou! E kala mai no ka lohi o kēia kākau ʻana akā e ia ʻia.

Ma ka lā ʻelua o ʻAukake, hoʻolauna ʻo Sherril me mākou i kāna hoʻokolohua a ka mākou kuleana. Aʻo mai ʻoia pehea e ʻohi i ka hāpana no iā ia. Kamaʻilio mākou e pili ʻana ka hana a pehea e hoʻolaulima i mea e ʻāwīwī. ʻOkoʻa kāna hāpana me ka hāpana a Megsie, ʻoi aku ka liʻiliʻi a Sherril mau hāpana. Ka mea mua, hoʻonoho i ka wahi me ka GPS. I laila, pono hoʻokahi e ʻohi lepo. Makemake ʻoia i ka papa luna loa o ka papakū, hoʻokahi kenimekela wale nō. Kekahi ʻē aʻe, heluhelu i ka limu. A ka poʻe hope, kākau iā ia i ka ʻikepili. Hoʻi kekahi i uka me ka wai mai ka wahi a kānana ia.

No ka lā mua, manaʻo ʻo Sherril hiki paha iā mākou e hoʻopau i hoʻokahi ai ʻole ʻelua wahi, akā naʻe, hana maikaʻi pū mākou a hoʻopau i ʻehā mau wahi.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On August 2nd, Sherril introduced us to her experiment and our duties. She taught us how to collect a sample for her. We talked about the process and how to work together to speed it up. Her samples are different from Megsieʻs; Sherrilʻs samples are much smaller. First thing to do is locate the site with the GPS. Once there, one person has to collect a sample. She wants the very top of the benthic layer, just one centimeter. Someone else has to do algal cover. And the last person records the data. Someone has to return to shore with a water sample from the site and filter it.

Sherril thought for this first day we would finish one or two sites, however we worked well together and finished four instead.

Ma poʻaono, hana hou mākou me ka ʻohi hāpana ʻana. Hoʻo pau mākou i ʻewalu mau wahi me ka manawa e keu.

On saturday, we collected samples again. We finished eight sites with time to spare.

Nui nā mea no ka ʻohi ʻana i kāna hāpana, a liʻiliʻi no hoʻi!

There are many pieces used to collect a sample, and so small!

Ka ʻoʻopu hue ʻawa

The poisonous pufferfish

Eia pehea e heluhelu limu

This is how we did algal cover

Aloha mākou i ka hoʻohāpana ʻana!

We love to sample!

A Freshwater Excursion

This week we went to Māhuahua ʻAi o Hoi,which means "replanting the fruit of Hawaii." It's a state-owned property managed by the organization Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi, which means "to support the natives."I have not seen so much undeveloped land on Oahu! The land is a wetland that used to be entirely kalo loʻi. The loʻi today look healthy. Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi plan to restore the loʻi to what they once were.

First, Kyrie gave us a tour of the property and told us a few of the moʻolelos of Heʻeia. She took us to the pond and then on the road back to the loʻi. Then we were the guinea pigs for troubleshooting some environmental monitoring methods that Kākoʻo ʻŌiwi will teach to
volunteers and students who visit the property. Sam, Martin, and I started with the vegetation mapping. We measured the dry and underwater canopy heights as well as the water depth of the discrete wetland vegetation units surrounding the freshwater pond. We noted the
species and traced the edge of the pond with a GPS unit. Only two native species are left in this wetland, and California grass seemed to be the dominant alien species.
When we were finished slogging around the pond, we moved to the next station- plankton tows. Determining the planktonic composition of the pond required this
little net with a bottle attached to it. Sam tossed the net and pulled it back. We rinsed the plankton into the bottle then used a field
microscope to classify the critters. We found a lot of detritus-parts of leaves and twigs, mostly, but Megsie found a cute little copepod. Our group didn't make it to the last station, which tested the turbidity and dissolved oxygen concentration of the pond. Dissolved oxygen is low in the pond, so only the really hardy species, like tilapia, live in it. I think all of us had a lot of fun and I thought that Kyrie's tour was the best part. It will take a lot more hard work from many people, but one day I think Heʻeia will be more like it used to be, with as much kalo in the wetland as moi in the pond. The ahupuaʻa has seen the sort of monumental work restoring it will take when the ancestors built the kuapā enclosing the fish pond. I'm honored to be a part of it.